Tips For Imaginative Educators: #2 Find A Source of Dramatic Tension

We see freedom and oppression play out in Cinderella. We see the idea of known and unknown worlds play out in Jack and The Beanstalk. We see safety and danger play out in Hantzel and Gretel. Dramatic tension is not only the stuff of children’s stories, myths, or fairytales however. Read an engaging news article and there will be some tension within it that you feel. For example, I just read a vivid account of what can happen when an underwater oil pipe ruptures; I was captivated by the sense of potential explosiveness that can occur. The hidden is revealed. The silent suddenly screams.

Imaginative teachers shape their lessons and units in ways that evoke a source of dramatic tension or, what we call in Imaginative Education, an Abstract Binary Opposition (ABO). (Check out the YouTube video about this teaching tool at the end of this post!)

Some examples for primary/elementary teachers:

Gigantic/minuscule can shape a science unit on OUTER SPACE.

Bold/timid can shape an art unit on the ELEMENTS OF LINE.

Apart/together can shape a language arts unit on PRINTING.

Finite/infinite can shape a math unit on NUMBERS and COUNTING.

Gain/loss can shape a science unit on ANIMAL ADAPTATION.

Temporary/permanent can shape a science unit on GROWTH/CHANGE.

And a few examples for middle-secondary school teachers:

Treasure/garbage can shape an interdisciplinary unit on ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP.

Colourful/drab can shape a social studies/humanities unit on CITIZENSHIP.

Freedom/constraint can shape an English unit on forms of POETRY.

Balance/instability can shape a math unit on SOLVING SIMPLE EQUATIONS.

Conceal/reveal can shape an Education course for pre-service teachers on CLASSROOM ASSESSMENT.

Help/hinder can shape a graduate Education course on INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT.

The Pedagogical Importance

When you identify a source of dramatic tension in a topic—the learning tool we call Abstract Binary Oppositions—you tie emotional concepts to the knowledge you are teaching. For teachers of children who are not reading extensively and are still largely oral language users, this is one of the most powerful tools for creating engaging units. But even for older students, this tool works.

Brainstorm what students might do in their learning to experience this dramatic tension and bring it into greater focus.

Some ground rules:

DON'T settle on the first opposition/idea that seems obvious to you; often times the first idea that comes to mind is not the most potent for engaging your students.

DO choose the opposition that will best encompass and represent the range of content knowledge you are teaching.

DON'T try to find the ONE RIGHT answer—the ultimate choice is up to you in terms of what engages your passion and what, in your expert opinion, can best convey the meaning of the topic you are teaching.

Summary of Tips For Imaginative Educators Series

#1 Find the Story. Identify what ignites your passion/interest in the topic; seek the emotional significance of the topic.

#2 Find a source of dramatic tension in the topic that you can evoke in your teaching.

Gillian Judson (@perfinker) teaches/writes/researches in the Faculty of Education at Simon Fraser University in B.C., Canada, co-directs the Imaginative Education Research Group (IERG), and coordinates Imaginative Ecological Education (IEE) research and practice. Her work is primarily concerned with the role of imagination in all learning. She also investigates how an ecological and imaginative approach to education can both increase students’ engagement with, and understanding of, the content of the curriculum but can show it in a light that can lead to a sophisticated ecological consciousness.

Gillian writes on a range of educatonal topics but especially about imagination, creativity, wonder, story, and ecological/place-based teaching practices. She is author of the books Engaging Imagination in Ecological Education: Practical Strategies For Teaching (Pacific Educational Press, 2015) and A New Approach to Ecological Education: Engaging Students’ Imaginations in Their World (New York: Peter Lang; 2010). She most recently co-authored a book called Imagination and the Engaged Learner: Cognitive Tools for the Classroom. (New York: Teachers’ College Press; in press).

She has also edited the book Teaching 360°: Effective Learning Through The Imagination (Rotterdam: Sense Publishing, 2008) and co-edited the books Engaging Imagination and Developing Creativity in Education (Newcastle, UK: Cambridge Scholars Press; 2015) and Wonder-Full Education: The Centrality of Wonder (New York: Routledge; 2013).

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